MR. ROBOT Recap: Handshake

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Much like the troubled protagonist’s delusional mind, the last few episodes of Mr. Robothave been teetering between reality and Elliot’s reality. Because of that, it’s been hard to guess where the plot might be headed. A number of things were made a bit clearer, however, as we got answers to a few questions that we’ve been wondering since the show returned for season two. One of these touched on a fan theory that’s been circulating since episode 201. Okay, considering there are probably a bunch of those, even, I’ll go ahead and spell it out for you: Based on Elliot’s “routine,” run-ins with Leon, and lack of tech, a lot of people think that Elliot is actually in a mental institution. Well, it turns out that isn’t exactly the case, but is pretty close to the truth.

Before we dive into the revelation, and what it all might mean for Elliot and fsociety, let’s start at the beginning. After being taken hostage two episodes ago, Elliot is bruised, and barely able to move. Following the wacky sitcom-like delusion, he’s finally come full circle on his opinion of Mr. Robot, and his intentions. In short, he accepts and understands that his alter ego has been trying to shield him from the blows. But the question he can’t get out of his head (and the one we haven’t been able to get out of ours), is what the heck happened to Tyrell, and why does Mr. Robot keep brushing it off?

Well, as we’ve all feared, Elliot was forced to face the music and the realization that he killed Tyrell with the gun Darlene left in the popcorn machine. According to Mr. Robot, Tyrell was insane (ranting about killing Sharon), and probably would have gone after him next. To shield him, he grabbed the gun and shot him. We obviously new this news was coming, but something tells me it might not be true. Of course, that could just be wishful thinking because I really miss Martin Wallström.

If it is true, Joanna is in for a surprise. Her S&M-fueled love affair with the mystery man was front and center in her subplot this week, culminating in her getting a lawyer to draft divorce papers. She clearly still thinks he’s alive, or at least wants other people to think he is. I’ve been trying to keep track of her actions, and fit them into the larger puzzle, but have come up with nothing. One thing’s for certain: if Tyrell is indeed dead and she finds out Elliot is responsible for it, she won’t hesitate to take action. Remember, we already saw her take a man out, just for knowing too much.

As far as we know, Joanna and Elliot haven’t come into contact in this season yet, so we’ll put theories about her potential wrath on the back burner for now. Besides, he’s got enough to worry about now after successfully getting Ray arrested for his black market website, the content of which Ray denied knowing about until Elliot discovered it. Despite a calm chat and understanding on Ray’s part, his goons didn’t take the news very well.

In fact, according to Leon, everyone has their eyes on Elliot, and think he’s responsible for what happened to Ray and the site. After threatening him on the basketball court, a group of guys jumped Elliot to put a beating on him. But lucky for him, good old Leon was there to save the day. And by save the day we mean sneak up on them like a stealth ninja and taking all of them out with a knife. Seriously, he looked like such a pro, and I’m dying, more than ever, to find out what his story is. All we know so far is that he loves Seinfeld, and somehow knows about Whiterose.

Oh, and there’s also the fact that he’s in prison with Elliot. Yes, the big reveal at the end of this week’s episode is that Elliot hasn’t really been living with his mother. Instead, he’s been strolling the corridors of a men’s prison. The shocking reveal came via Elliot’s therapist Krista, who asked him where he thought he was. When he reflected on this, he told the audience that everything we’ve seen this season actually happened, and that his routine, and belief about where he is was his way of coping. What actually put him in prison, and how long ago everything happened, however, remains a mystery.

Speaking of prison, Angela might be heading there after what she pulled last week. We caught up with her immediately after Dom interrupted her hack. As we suspected, Dom is on to her, and grills her about what she was doing on the FBI floor. Quick on her feet, Angela brushed it off and cited the date plans she just made with the male agent. But as Darlene pointed out, Dom has nothing on her, which is further confirmed when the FBI realizes they’ve been hacked but don’t have any security footage.

The good news is, fsociety has successfully infiltrated the FBI, and discovered a plan that’s going down the following day. We don’t know what it is yet, but everyone seemed pretty concerned about it. Angela, on the other hand, made it clear that she’s done doing stuff for the group, and is back on her mission to get to the bottom of the E Corp cover up that resulted in her father’s death.

She took a pretty successful step towards her goal by wrapping Price around her finger–which she accomplished by getting the contingency on the company’s biggest lawsuit dropped. Impressed, Price revealed his actual birthday (okay?), and invited Angela to celebrate with him. Instead of taking him up on the offer, Angela declined and asked for a lateral move to the risk management firm. Despite her best efforts to use the opportunity to gather intel about the case, her new boss saw right through her and basically told her he was going to make her life a living hell.

What will happen on next week’s episode? I obviously don’t know anymore, but I am hoping somebody says something along the lines of: “orange is the new hack” at least once.